Key benchmark indices extended initial gains in morning trade. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 102.03 points or 0.49%, up 99.36 points from the day's low and off 31.23 points from the day's high. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. BJP's prime ministerial candidate for this year's Lok Sabha elections Mr. Narendra Modi's reformist agenda and promised policy implementation in his speech on Thursday, 27 February 2014, and dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, 27 February 2014, boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses today, 28 February 2014. The market sentiment was also boosted by data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on Wednesday, 26 February 2014.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) edged lower in choppy trade after Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party intensified its attack on Mukesh Ambani, accusing him of being involved in a Rs 6530-crore money-laundering operation. Pharma stocks edged higher on renewed buying. Cadila Healthcare, Lupin and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories hit record high. PSU OMCs reversed intial gains. Infosys scaled a record high after its BPO unit -- Infosys BPO -- on Thursday, 27 February 2014, unveiled its Process Progression Model TM (PPM), a holistic and innovative framework to accelerate optimization and end-to-end transformation of business processes.
A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed gains after an initial rally. The Sensex moved past the the psychological 21,000 mark. The Sensex and the 50-unit CNX Nifty, both, scaled 5-week high. Key benchmark indices extended initial gains in morning trade.
The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds remained net buyers of Indian stocks on Wednesday, 26 February 2014. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 511.15 crore on Wednesday, 26 February 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The stock market was closed on Thursday, 27 February 2014, on account of Mahashivratri.
At 10:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 102.03 points or 0.49% to 21,089.02. The index jumped 133.26 points at the day's high of 21,120.25 in early trade, its highest level since 24 January 2014. The index rose 2.67 points at the day's low of 20,989.66 in early trade.
The CNX Nifty was up 24.25 points or 0.39% to 6,263.05. The index hit a high of 6,274.25 in intraday trade, its highest level since 24 January 2014. The index hit a low of 6,228.10 in intraday trade.
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The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1,163 shares gained and 729 shares fell. A total of 126 shares were unchanged.
The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 33.09 points or 0.51% to 6,502.12 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 32.45 points or 0.5% to 6,468.72. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 523 crore by 10:25 IST, compared with Rs 205 crore by 09:30 IST.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) edged lower in choppy trade after Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party intensified its attack on Mukesh Ambani, accusing him of being involved in a Rs 6530-crore money-laundering operation. The stock was off 0.44% at Rs 807. The stock hit a high of Rs 814 and low of Rs 805.80 so far during the day.
RIL on Thursday, 27 February 2014, said that allegations that foreign direct investments in certain Indian companies by Biometrix, a Singapore-based company, are "laundered monies" invested in India are completely false. These false and baseless allegations are being repeatedly made in the media and in judicial proceedings and have been already responded to, RIL said. The allegations made by Prashant Bhushan on Thursday, 27 February 2014, are highly defamatory, false, irresponsible and devoid of any merit or substance whatsoever, RIL said. These false allegations have been repeatedly made and their regurgitation in the media is fuelling an orchestrated, politically-motivated campaign against the company, RIL said.
The investments by Biometrix were open, transparent and perfectly legitimate transactions in full compliance with the extant regulations, RIL said. These investments in the Indian companies were made by Biometrix out of loans raised from ICICI Bank, Singapore branch, RIL said. ICICI Bank has confirmed this fact to the regulators, RIL said. Regulatory authorities have fully investigated the matter and have found no substance in the allegations of money laundering, RIL said. The insinuation that this money was from "gold plating" from KG-D6 is completely irresponsible and false, RIL said.
The allegations that ill-gotten laundered money or profits have either been made or that these have been deposited in the accounts of RIL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Mr. Mukesh Ambani through Singapore or otherwise are false, RIL said. The allegations relating to surrender of D-29 and D-30 blocks and transfer of Mr Chaubey are also false and irresponsible, RIL said. The company is refraining from making any further comment at this stage since the allegations relating to Biometrix are a part of judicial proceedings, RIL said.
Pharma stocks edged higher on renewed buying. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 2.23%), Ipca Laboratories (up 1.06%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.53%), Cipla (up 0.65%) and Wockhardt (up 0.98%) gained
Cadila Healthcare rose 1.3% to Rs 1,020.90 after striking a record high of Rs 1,025 in intraday trade.
Lupin gained 1.38% to Rs 973.75 after striking a record high of Rs 974.70 in intraday trade.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories rose 2.94% to Rs 2,917.25 after hitting record high of Rs 2,939.80 in intraday trade.
PSU OMCs reversed intraday gain in volatile trade. HPCL shed 0.38% to Rs 261.50, with the stock reversing gains after hitting an intraday high of Rs 266.
Indian Oil Corporation fell 0.4% to Rs 146.95, with the stock reversing gains after hitting an intraday high of Rs 252.90.
BPCL was up 0.97% to Rs 381.40, off an initial high of Rs 384.95.
Infosys rose 0.35% to Rs 3,815 after scaling a record high of Rs 3,832.10 in intraday trade. Infosys BPO, a subsidiary of Infosys, on Thursday, 27 February 2014, unveiled its Process Progression Model (PPM), a holistic and innovative framework to accelerate optimization and end-to-end transformation of business processes. PPM brings together multiple transformation levers and competencies developed by Infosys, to help clients progress their business processes in a phased way and maximize efficiency and effectiveness of each process, Infosys said. The new framework maps the progress of each process against pre-defined client-centric benchmarks to deliver enhanced value and improved business outcomes for clients, Infosys said.
Pidilite Industries rose 0.1%. Pidilite Industries before market hours today, 28 February 2014, said that there is a change in shareholding pattern of Percept Waterproofing Services (PWSL) which was earlier a wholly owned subsidiary of Pidilite Industries and with this change in shareholding, the holding of Pidilite Industries in PWSL now stands at 80% of total paid up capital of PWSL.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar ahead. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 62.055, compared with its close of 61.98/99 on Wednesday, 26 February 2014. The foreign exchange market was closed on Thursday, 27 February 2014, on account of Mahashivratri.
Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, said on Thursday, 27 February 2014, that India's traders and grocery store owners must learn to compete with large modern stores and online retailers. "We should not worry about the challenges from global trade," he told a gathering of the Confederation of All India Traders. Rather, he said, small traders should emphasise on quality of their products to compete better and could enter into contracts with big online retailers to create "virtual malls in small shops".
With the general elections fast approaching, Modi also laid out his economic views separately at a conference on the Indian economy on Thursday, 27 February 2014. "Speedy, yet sustainable economic growth that is inclusive of all is the need of the hour," he told a crowd of businessmen, bankers, economists and diplomats. As India is vast, he said there are no tailor-made solutions for the problems of the entire country. "The government must identify the strengths of each state and devise strategies accordingly," he said. Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, said he also favoured introducing a nationwide goods and services tax (GST), a long-pending reform expected to bring a uniform market, reduce costs of businesses and increase government revenue.
Modi answered only two questions from members of the audience, one of which was related to energy security. He said he preferred using the country's own natural resources such as solar energy and wind energy to energy imports.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday, 26 February 2014, defended his decision to repeatedly raise interest rates when he said that reducing inflation is the best way to foster stable growth. "We cannot wait until the public's expectations of inflation get more entrenched, and the inflationary spiral gains momentum," Mr. Rajan said in a speech, defending his decision to raise key policy rate three times by a combined 0.75 percentage points since he took over as head of the central bank in September 2013.
Mr. Rajan indicated that he agreed with the recommendations of a central bank panel which had suggested the RBI start using a consumer price inflation target to determine monetary policy. The panel suggested that RBI should bring down the consumer price inflation rate to 8% by January 2015 and to 6% by January 2016. After that it should aim to keep it within two percentage points of 4%, the panel said.
Mr. Rajan said the gradual raising of interest rates now rather than later is the best way to slowly squeeze inflation out of the economy. "Rather than administer shock therapy to a weak economy, the RBI prefers to dis-inflate over time rather than abruptly, while being prepared to do what is necessary if the economy deviates from the projected inflation path," Mr. Rajan said. He said keeping inflation in check will also bolster the rupee and business confidence. "Greater public faith that inflation will be low will add stability to our currency, and prevent the kind of gyrations we saw last summer," he said.
Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Citing price pressures, the Reserve Bank of India raised its key lending rates by 25 basis points after Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy for 2013-14 on 28 January 2014.
The India government will unveil data on gross domestic product (GDP) for Q3 December 2013 after trading hours today, 28 February 2014. The GDP grew at improved pace of 4.8% in Q2 September 2013, from 4.4% growth recorded in Q1 June 2013.
Asian stocks edged lower on Friday, 28 February 2014, after the yuan posted its steepest one-day loss against the dollar. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan and South Korea fell by 0.19% to 0.95%. In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite was up 0.61%.
A meeting of China's lawmakers to set economic policy and growth targets begins next week in Beijing. The National People's Congress annual gathering begins on 5 March 2014.
US markets edged higher on Thursday, 27 February 2014, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a fresh record as investors welcomed dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen before the Senate Banking Committee.
Yellen told senators it was difficult to tell how much of the recent decline in US economic growth was due to weather, adding the central bank might consider a pause in its reduction of bond buying if the weakness persists. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review on 18-19 March 2014. After a monetary policy review, the FOMC on 29 January 2014 announced it will reduce monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion
In latest US economic news, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to match the highest level of 2014, suggesting that progress in a gradually recovering US labor market has slackened off. However, the average of new claims over the past month, usually a more reliable gauge than the up-and-down weekly number, was unchanged at 338,250.
Orders for US durable goods fell 1% in January as demand tapered off for most big-ticket items except military hardware, the government said Thursday.
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